Francophone family with local roots honoured

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This article was published 03/06/2010 (5799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reflecting on five generations of entrepreneurs in her family, Huguette Dandeneau is convinced it’s in their blood.

“We’re a bit independent-minded,” she said. “We like different challenges continuously and you learn a lot with your own business.”

The family of Rose and Emery Mulaire — including the couple’s son, and Dandeneau’s father, Guy Mulaire – are one of three families being honoured May 28 at the Gala of Pioneers for Francophone Entrepreneurship in Manitoba.

The gala is organized by CDEM (the Economic Development Council for Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities) and the AMBM (the Association of Manitoba Bilingual Municipalities.)

The Mulaire’s family tradition of entrepreneurship began in 1885, when Rose’s parents opened a butchery in St. Pierre Jolys.
Rose met Emery Mulaire while working at the shop. The couple married, and in 1929 they bought the butchery.

The couple’s four sons — Guy, Eugène, Gilles and René — all followed in their father’s footsteps. Guy and Gilles even bought their father’s shop in 1954 and ran it together for a decade.

Then, in 1964, Guy Mulaire decided to move his growing family to St. Boniface.

“It was just because the (St. Pierre) store wasn’t quite big enough to support two families,” explained his son Marcel Mulaire.

The elder Mulaire bought a grocery store on Rue Des Meurons. His six children grew up helping out at the store.

“Discussion around the table were about business,” Marcel Mulaire recalled.

Both Mulaire and Dandeneau also stressed their role their father’s French identity played in his business choices.

Dandeneau said her father always strived to hire bilingual employees, while Mulaire added that his father — along with the whole Mulaire family — always tried to cater to the French community, and did their business in French where possible.

He added it was only natural for him to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I worked for my father, or myself, for all of my life,” he said, adding that in 1981 he returned to St. Pierre-Jolys from Winnipeg to take over the store that had been started by his great grandfather almost 100 year earlier.

“The way they did business was the greatest influence,” said Mulaire. “It was always about helping people.”

Dandeneau said she has no doubt entrepreneurship will continue to be important to the Mulaire family.

Two of her adult children both run their own businesses now, she said, passing the entrepreneurial torch onto a fifth generation.

Dandeneau added that being recognized by CDEM and AMBM means a lot to her father, who is in fragile health and may not be able to attend the gala.

“Whatever my dad did in his business, he did it quietly. His commitment to his language, his culture,” she said. “For him to continue that, and to be recognized for doing it naturally, it just seems fair.”

arielle.godbout@canstarnews.com